Oblique Impressions
by wheretheliliesblow
Summary: Aria breathed in his breath, with sudden gasps and slights stops. Her vision blurred as darkness took over her eyes and let them drop. She went limp in his arms. Luka was gone also gone, in a sense replaced by instinct. The instinct of a Vampire. For the
1. Prologue

She could see the thick cerulean veins extending around his neck and disappearing down into his shirt, she could tell it didn't stop there. The veins on his hands were just as blue and just as abnormal. The color seamed wrong, it was not the color that blood cells had prior to when oxygen reaches them but another color, a more haunting one. A blue like the ones flowers get when all their petals are frozen and they sleep till the spring. Somehow a more dormant blue, a more chilling one. His body was slumped in a position that reminded me of the mice in the chemistry lab. Hunched and huddled in corners with their white fur shaking in fear, he was almost the exact same image. Same position and if it weren't for the alien veins cascading his body he would have been just as white as the lab mice. He looked in pain and his eyes resembled that of a half drowsed dog. Her heart leapt for him. He looked so sickly and alone, her actions were automatic.

"Luka?" Her voice was not her own. It sounded wavered, scared. Why? Scared for him?

She did not get but five feet into the room when she saw his stance turn hostile and his eyes turn to look to her. His eyes had gone into a dark hue almost unrecognizable. It was no longer the boy blue she had known throughout the school year, it was now a much darker tone with a more dangerous look.

"Turn around and leave." His tone was calm, a restrained calm one you would hear from a person resisting a fight or argument, one before a storm. Underneath all this calm he sounded dry, asthmatic in some way, even thought I knew he wasn't.

"What's wrong with you, what happened?" She inched closer and saw his anguished face. Sweat perspired down his chalky white cheeks, as his eyes closed together.

"Go! Please just go!" He ground his teeth and yelled at her, no longer in his calm façade. He screamed now and she ran closer. He thrashed against the wall, like a bird in cage still trying to fly with clipped wings. When she reached him she fell to her knees by his side, still not touching. She could see his ragged breathing. His chest rose as if he had just run ten miles. She came as his anger soared. His fist raised and intersected with the stone cold stone floor. The stone tiles rippled like water with shards of rock and debris. Aria covered her eyes with her arm as some of it hit the walls and both of them. He sat unmoved, nothing but the sound of his breathing. He was slender and lean, he was male and muscled but no amount of muscle he had could have lifted the stone floor with just his first. Her body wouldn't move for several minutes as she thought of how he could have done this. She didn't how, she just knew he had and Aria was now more afraid of what he would do to her if she stayed then why he was here in the first place. She looked at his face and she could see her fear give her away as he closed his eyes.

She rose as swiftly as she came and clumsily ran out. She curved down the corridor from which she came and ran down it. Her running slowed her body wasn't fit for it. Her breathing was already increased from her own fear and now from her exhaustion. She leaned on a pillar catching her breath and replaying Luka's anger in her mind. His eyes and veins playing moving pictures in her head. She slid to the ground leaning her head against her knees pushing her cold hands to the warmth beneath her knees. She could feel her heart still beating trapped in her own ribcage's grasp.

He acted so strangely from the weeks past. Skipping almost everyday most of the time even without Marrow, this was unheard of since they were the closest of friends. He showed his dislike of her more then ever after the incident in the upstairs rooms and now that she had seen him this way tonight whatever was hurting him now must have been the reason for his seclusion. The tears that came next was not something she expected. Where these tears of shock? Fear? Anger? She didn't know she just wanted them to stop and forced the droplets back, wiping away the few that escaped her eyes rim. The clicking of heels on tile interrupted her thoughts and whipped her head down the direction of the corridor. Whoever was coming down was coming her way. She couldn't afford to get caught again, not after last time. Her punishment would be worse then detention this time, second offences always are. She couldn't risk getting expelled especially since she already had to pay her aunt back the tuition money, when she got a job.

Aria gathered herself together taking off her shoes to make her escape down the hall quieter. She knew she could go down the left corridor and wait for an hour in the utilities room until the guard there retires for the night, and then creep to her room. She would have done this if Lukas's face hadn't popped back into her head. She remembered how he looked so much in pain. If the night guards found him there's no telling what would happen. No matter what fear she felt before, her worry for him was growing bigger now. Her mind fought to go to him and to leave. Aria's bigger fear now was if Luka, whatever was wrong with him, would be ok. She turned and ran back the way she came, damning him every step of the way and her self for being so weak. She heard the night guard's heels again and ran faster. The black shoes she held in one hand handed slipped and tumbled against the white tiles creating an orchestral of noise to be echoed and spread throughout the corridor. Aria picked them up with fast hurry and ran as fast as she could to Luka, she knew the guards had heard and she heard them follow after her sounds.

She came to the room colliding with the door rim and closing the door with haste.

"They're coming...I'm sorry …they heard me!" Her words came out separate and detached because of her heavy breathing. Her lungs felt on fire but the look in his eyes sent shivers down her skin.

"Why did you come back, you stupid girl!" He was in worst shape then before. The eerie veins on his neck were almost gone but his hands and chest were another story.

"I-I'm sorry I can't help it now, please hate me later we have to hide now!" She started toward him slowly not knowing what he would do now. He saw her precaution and his shoulder sagged in response.

"How close are they?" He asked still staining words but not out of anger but out of pain.

"They're coming right now, let me help you!" Aria looked at him with pleading eyes. Pleading for him to let her help him and pleading so they don't get seen. The nuns on the night guard were coming in close to where they were and they would find them soon if they don't hurry.

"Help me up." These three words where enough for Aria to rush to him. She let him lean against her as his arm went round her shoulder for balance. They straddled on their feet trying to walk. Aria saw down his downy green shirt, the cobalt veins spread out like rivers across his chest, all centering on his heart and branching out like spiders. He was cold to the touch. His head looked down as if it was too heavy for his neck to hold like her was for her.

"Where can we go?" Aria franticly asked looking at his face.

"There's a broken wall in the closet over there, we'll push it in and cover it with the storage boxes." His arm pointed toward the dark corner on the right where a door stood open. Carrying Luka's weight across the room was hard enough without the time limit they were under. They reached the closet door and pushed it wide open. The inside was dusty with a cobwebs and a grime interior. The room hadn't been used in years and the closet along with it. There were still undusted shelves along one side with little knickknacks. The walls were painted in a sea foam green that had faded into grey in the corners and had chipped down onto the floor. There were cracks in some sections of it and whole parts broken off. Luka pointed toward a box that looked as if it was beaten and nodded his head on the way to it.

"It's behind there, move the box and I'll help you kick in the wall in." Luka dropped to the floor. Just moving exhausted him and made his body pierce with pain, a blue pain that seamed to spread everywhere in his body nonstop. He held his head in his hands watching Aria push the box out of the way as fast as she could. He could hear his own heartbeat and watched her cheeks pool with blood from effort. The rosy hue pulled him to her like he had strings attached to his limbs and she was the puppet master. He rose off the floor. He could still feel the pain spread but he stood anyway aching in body and want to touch her face.

"Hurry lets kick it I-" The last word was choked in her throat as Aria turned around and found Luka right in front of her. He was close enough to touch and his eyes still held the blue darkness as when she found him except now they didn't scare her, now they lured her in. He could feel the heat radiating off her body, she was that close to him. Her eyes help surprise and curiosity in them even with the dark hair disarrayed around her face. Luka shook his head trying to clear it from the strange call it was giving him.

"Come on then." The hole in the wall was already big enough for a small child but they would have to make it bigger if they wanted both of them to fit in. Aria slammed her foot into the wall cracking more wallpaper and breaking parts of plaster off. Luka joined in. With Luka's first hit the wall crumbled and the hole was enlarged three times greater then is had been before. He kicked the pieces of wall away as Aria swatted the air now full of dust. She coughed while talking.

"How did-"He shoved her into the hole without answering. The wall was hollowed out. The floor was barely three feet across but manageable to sit in. It was filthier then the closet has been. Spiders ran in holes as Aria tried to squeeze in. Luka went and closed the door. He took the abused box and pushed it back by the hole. He screamed as his body when into convulsions of pain. His knuckles white from his grip on the box.

"Luka!" Aria was barely up on her feet before Luka motioned her to stop.

"Stay there I'm almost done." He took deep breaths to calm his body but it only increased the thirst in his stomach and the pain in his veins. He climbed in the hole dragging the box along with him until the hole was completely covered and only thin strands of light escaped. They sat close together. Luka felt Aria's long hair brush onto his arm and the warm heat of her body. With every warm touch of her body his hurt like hell. His body was much colder then hers now he knew it but he knew didn't want her heat he wanted something much deeper.

"How are you doing?"

"Don't speak, they're here." They heard the distant sound of the door beyond the closet door open and they sat still as mannequins. They heard the clicking of four heels. The screeches of the table legs against the floor made Aria close her hands against her ears. The room sounded as if it was being attached. The clashes of chairs and tables only continued for so long till the sound of the closet door opening happened. The nun walked in coughing at the dust still in the air from the wall. They were in the far right corner. The hole was closed off by one box then that box was hidden behind two stacked one on top of another.

The guard started pushing the boxes and opening some of them. Inspecting them as if there were in some kind of interrogation of the eye. As we heard another box being pushed across the floor the guard yelled out. It was a quick yelp, the kind a child would make by touching the thorn of a rose and quickly letting go. The other guard came in with the alacrity of her heels.

"What's wrong Sarah, what's happened?" The other guard's voice sounded old and grainy, as if she needed to cough. The other guard sounded tired and weak but her voice was clearer then the others.

"It's my knee, I think it's acting up again" She pushed up her robes for better inspection.

"Are you going to be alright? The other nun questioned.

"I just need a good rest, lets go they're probably gone by now."

"Damn delinquents they don't know what they're asking for."

The minutes ticked away long after the night guards left the room but Luka and Aria still stayed there. Luka hardly breathed and Aria noticed this.

"Luka? Luka can you hear me?" She shook his shoulder to get an answer out of him. Her fingers felt his cold skin through the clothing he wore. When she carried him he also felt cold but now he was close to icy.

"Your frozen solid!" She moved closer to him to give him her heat and trying to warm his skin. Her skin waved in bumps from the arctic of his. She hugged the tops of his shoulders and neck.

"Ok Luka I want to know the truth, what's wrong with you, what's going on?" Luka's head rose at her question. His face not two inches away from hers. She saw the paleness of his skin and his dark blue eyes as they stared back at her. He some how didn't seam himself and what he did next surprised Aria even more. He leaned his forehead against hers. She now felt his cold skin on hers like snow on hot fingertips. He slid his face down hers letting his cheek rest alongside hers. She gasped as her arms went limp against him. Leaning alongside her cheek was the boy who only spoke brazenly to her and avoided her above all things. His cold breath tickled her ear as he exhaled, breathing still a little rugged. He lifted his head once more. He neared his face toward hers again inching to close the gap between them. Millimeters before her lips met his he breathed into her. Aria breathed in his breath, with sudden gasps and slights stops. Her vision blurred as darkness took over her eyes and let them drop. She went limp in his arms. Luka was gone also gone, in a sense replaced by instinct. The instinct of a Vampire. He held her in his arms feeling the high temperature of her skin compared to his. He could see her skin regardless of the dark, it was still flushed and pink with blood behind it. He could feel it pulsing through her body, going in and out of her heart to her arms, legs, and anywhere else. He raised her body toward his head and sniffed her warm body. Searching for a spot to feed. He found it, and put his head against her skin. All form of Luka covered in a maddening crave for blood.


	2. Chapter 1

**This is the first chapter of Oblique Impressions. Please Review!**

The sound of knuckles against wood reverberated against the wood of Aria's door

The sound of knuckles against wood reverberated against the surface of Aria's door. The repetition against it stopped her concentration of folding the flannel shirt in her hands. She raised herself off the floral printed bed and walked across the wooden floor of her bedroom to open the door. Marian Darin stood in the doorway. One hand across her stomach and the other holding a cigarette half done.

"Are you about done yet?" She asked as she took another drag from her cigarette.

"I've got a couple of shirts left and I'll be done."

"If we don't leave by six you'll miss your flight then you won't get there for the orientation. It's not like you need so much clothing anyway you'll be in uniform most of the time."

Aria walked back to the bed and continued folding adding the newly folded flannel shirt to the neat piles in her suitcase. She turned her emerald eyes to her aunt, staring impatiently at her comment and then turning her attention back to the fabric.

"We'll make it."

"I'll come back in a half an hour, you better be ready." Extinguishing her cigarette on the floor with her bare feet she turned and exited the way she came. The door slammed against the frame and rattled the bookshelf beside it. Aria took the blue cotton shirt in her hand symmetrically folding it and placing it aside next to all the rest ready to be packed in her suitcase. She could smell the dead cigarette on the floor put paid no attention to it; she wouldn't be coming back to this room so there was no point in cleaning it now. Her aunt was also right, she wouldn't need so many pieces of clothing since the school required uniforms, and she was already wearing hers. It was freshly washed and ironed by her self. Paired in a knee skirted bottom, clean white blouse, and vest. The skirt and vest held a fern green to it that looked as if moss rubbed against a rock and left the color there. The buttons where of a gold that was meant to make the outfit look stationary, it just made Aria feel idiotic. She wasn't used to wearing uniforms it was one of this things she hated most about going away to a private school. She's spend her life in public school all up to her sixteenth year, this year, when her aunt decided she was going to the school or she was on her own. Marian was her guardian now and had been ever since she was ten. That was the year of her parent's death, the "accident" that was never confirmed and always haunted Aria in her dreams and day life.

Putting the last of her only shoes in the suitcase she zipped it up. Adding her toiletries to the side pockets for easier access, she reminisced about the day her aunt told her she was going to Millicent Academy. What a name she thought. It sounded just as old as it was. A private school for privileged children, at lest that's what the brochure said. Aria was neither a privileged child nor a private school kind of girl. The tuition was enough to make her want to rip the brochure in her hands. A big enough sum to make her nauseous just looking at it, a sum she would have to pay off her self. Her aunt said she would pay for her three years but she had to pay her back the following two years after her graduation. This was something Aria would have never have agreed to. Why go to a private school that you don't want to and then have to pay for it yourself? There was only one thing that Aria would have done for this and that was her parent's legal documents. The court had given all the legal document of her parents to her Aunt Marian, all the documents including her graduating letter that her parents wrote for her. This was all in the possession of Marian and she wouldn't get it now till she finished the private school her Aunt specifically told her to go to. She knew nothing of the school, except that both her parents had gone there and now with the refusal of her will she would be too.

Her stubborn Aunt refused to give her the rightful papers from her parents. Aria was still underage but that doesn't excuse her for not giving her their letter. That's all she really wanted, to hear their voices one last time, even if it was on paper. She could wait till she was eighteen and then have them, but that still depends if her Aunt would "see her fit to have them".

_"You're going to this school to better yourself, and make you're parents proud."_

That's was one of the only things her Aunt would tell her was the reason for really going, just to better herself and make her parents proud. She never felt that she had to make them proud before, they were happy to her eyes. The night they died was to first night Aria even met her Aunt Marian. Her parent never kept in good contact with her family, all their holidays was just the three of them and sometimes her grandfather. He was a tall man for his age. Hair bleached grey from age and face worn with wrinkles, like sand dunes with waved impressions. He had the same emerald green, as her eyes and as her father. Whenever he came he smelled of walnuts, a smell Aria always remembered of him and always recognized whenever he came through the door. He was very soft spoken and would rarely speak at all when he did come over, but Aria was just glade that he came over at all even if it was only a few times a year. He died two years prior to her parent's accident. He called her his daisy because she was the bright patch in a green world. Every year they would go to his grave, just her parents and her, flower arrangements would be replaced and the grave would be swept and every year. Aria would put daisies on his grave to remind him that she's still his patch of yellow in a green world. She wouldn't be able to do that now thanks to Millicent Academy.

The bed creaked under her weight as she picked up the suitcase in her hands and set it on the scratched up wooden floor.

"I could kill someone with this thing." Staring at the brown and black luggage that was bulging from the floor. It was heavy enough just to get it off the bed she didn't even know how hard it was going to be to get it into her dorm. The brochure showed what the dorms would look like but the sparkling windows and clean white sheets didn't seam so homey to Aria as it was made it out to be. That would be her room for the next three years of her life, well hers and her roommate's. She didn't know who her roommate was going to be but she couldn't care less. It was most likely going to be someone with a heavily influential background or ancestry like everyone else in the school. That's the kind of people that go to private schools isn't it? Aria really had no Idea. Her most thought of plan was to go unnoticed by everyone for the next three years. She already felt like she was a big enough outcast in public schools, and she knew it would be even worse in a private school. For a private school this school was pretty well unknown. She's gotten the paperwork for all her medical records to be filled out and the brochures but that was it. The school was outside the city limits of Beulah, North Dakota. Aria had never been outside of Nevada with her parents and after their death she's spent her years in Idaho with her Aunt. The school didn't even have a website like most private schools had which was odd enough since the tuition was equivalent to the GNP of a third world country in Aria's eyes.

The wheels of the suitcase added fresh new grazes against the wooden floor as Aria dragged it to the door. She paused with the luggage long enough to put on her shoes and grab her carry on purse. She walked to her vanity mirror and quickly trudged a brush through her chestnut locks, brushing her thick bangs with a comb instead. As she pushed the baggage down the hallway that was painted in a flowery yellow wallpaper that was chipping at the corners and stopped as it reached the living room ,which continued in a peach hue. Aunt Marian thought it would open up the room more, since it was previously painted dark lavender that opposed the white leathery furniture she had bought. The peach looked an even bigger disaster but telling that to Aunt Marian would be like yelling at a deaf man that he was on fire.

"Can we leave now?" Aria asked her Aunt. She was sitting on the snowy couch watching the daily news report the weather. Even though she wasn't watching the weather, she was watching the weatherman.

"Roy's out in the garage tell him to clean up; I'm going to get my purse."

Roy was Aunt Marian's boyfriend. He'd been with her even before Aria had come to stay with them. He was six years her senior but looked younger then he was. At times he looked better and younger than Aunt Marian. Marian somehow looked more worn and tired than he did. She knew how to take care of herself though, make herself "all dolled up" as she called it. She'd recently dyed her hair a dirty blonde than her natural light brown and cut it shoulder length short. She would have to keep dying her roots now, but she would still look beautiful, well as beautiful as she could be.

When Aria opened the garage door Roy was there. He had his back turned to her looking through his tool chest. Roy was average in every way possible, average height average build, average job, and average life. He had a young face though and a pretty good head of hair.

"We're going soon, Aunt Marian says to get cleaned up." He turned at the sound of her voice and smiled. It spread to her.

"All ready?"

"Guess so." Taking a deep breath.

"You'll be ok; just don't let them get the best of you." Wiping his oiled hands on a grey rag.

"Let's just get it over with."

"Your Aunts doing this for you Aria." His eyes softened.

"Yeah, I know." No, she really didn't know. There were so many gaps about this whole situation that she doubted her Aunt was just doing this for her.

"I need help with my bag."

"Too heavy?" He chuckled.

"It's a beast."

"Alright, just go get your Aunt and I'll do the rest." He said laughing at her choice of words.

Aria went inside too look for her Aunt. She was probably in her bathroom because "let me just get my purse" really means let me just stay in the bathroom for another hour getting ready. She passed through her bedroom and pushed the bathroom door aside. She was leaning against the sink, getting a closer look into her eye to apply black eyeliner on her lower lids.

"You tell him?" Still applying her liner.

"Yeah."

"And you got everything, right?" Putting down her eyeliner to look at her.

"Everything but the floorboards." Her sarcasm wasn't something her Aunt liked, it was one of the reasons she still did it.

"If you forget anything I'm not coming to bring it to you, I hope you know that." Her face turned back to the mirror as she applied her powder that was a shade golden then her own pale skin color, giving her cheeks a fake sun kissed look. Aria knew she won't be coming at all. The plane tickets were too much for her to keep coming back or her Aunt to come visit and driving was not something Marian did well. Roy could drive well, he would be the one driving her to the airport. He could drive them both to visit her but she knew they wouldn't. Aria and Roy had an understanding. They weren't friends, they weren't enemies, they were just there together at the same time, nothing more.

"I didn't forget anything."

"Are you girls ready yet?" Roy called down the hall. Marian packed some of her makeup into her tulip purse and closed it.

"We're coming Roy."

They walked into the living room checking if all the windows were closed and all the locks locked. Roy had Aria's suitcase in his left hand and the keys to his blue Ford in the other. They walked out into the drive way toward the rusty Ford. Roy's Ford looked like it had seen better days, better days ten years ago. The paintjob he'd tried to give it last spring made it look like a giant blueberry on wheels, very unstable wheels. Entering the car the smell of cigarettes and oil went up her nostrils. The smells was stomach-churning a smell that Aria had gotten used too since Roy and Marian smoked often but still an unpleasant smell to say the lest. The seats were of a fuzzy fabric that was a shade duller then the plastic headboard. The car seats were warm from the day's sun and felt hot under all the uniform Aria was wearing. The ride to the air port was not a long one but Aria always got drowsy during car rides regardless how long they were.

"Put some music on Roy, I hate all this silence"

Roy turned the black knob and turned the channel to the smooth jazz music he seemed to favor so much. Smooth golden music streamed through the car and lulled their ears. The piano and cello made the scenery seam more bountiful and happier despite the overhead grey clouds gathering by. It was going to rain. Marian's weatherman said over clouds with a slight chance of drizzling rain. By the image of the rain clouds it looks like the drizzling was going to start soon.

Aria leaned her head against the heated glass and closed her eyes. She hoped the rain would reach North Dakota that way maybe her first night at he academy might at lest be a good slept one. Rain against a rooftop was one of the most soothing sounds Aria loved to sleep with. They way some people have a sound maker that made the sound of waves, Aria just waited for the rain so its patterns on stone could calm her to sleep.

"Are you excited Aria?" Roy started his small talk.

"Ecstatic." Aria dryly replied.

"This school has great opportunities for you Aria."

"I had the impression that I could be anything I wanted to be no matter where I went."

"You can be but this school will help you achieve it better then you could have in a public school." Marian rolled her window down two quarters of the frame.

"It's not a very well known school." Aria tracing patters on the window with her index finger.

"It's a good school Aria." Marian lit a new cigarette and blowing smoke out the window.

"So you've said."

They didn't talk for the rest of the car ride, letting the jazz music continue to keep the silence at bay and help suppress the small talk Roy was so fond of. The first couple of months that's one of the most frequent things Roy tried to do with her; talk. Talk about her feelings, her thoughts, and her family. Aria's silence stayed and Roy's preservation wore off after the third week, much to Aria's relief. Not that Aria didn't like to talk, just that she didn't want to talk to Roy about things his average life probably could not understand, like her parent's isolation or her disbelief that their death was an accident.

The blueberry Ford pulled into the massive airport parking lot. Paying the officer they went to park. Walking out into the parking lot Aria felt the cool breeze rush up her skirt cooling her thighs from the heat of the car. The clouds overhead were still gathering but there was no rain yet. The grey sky made the white airplanes highlighted in a fair color. Roy and Marian walked Aria into the airport. Roy helped her put the suitcase on the rotating luggage machine.

"We're going to leave now, just give you're ticket to the stewardess up ahead and you'll be fine."

"Take care of yourself." Roy hugged Aria as Marian put a hand to her shoulder.

"We'll call you in a few days to check up." Marian added.

"Can't I call you?" Aria asked.

"They won't let you unless it an emergency I'm sure" Marian answered with a smile.

"Don't worry you'll be fine." She smiled again, it not reaching her eyes.

They turned away from Aria walking down toward the exit. Aria turned to the line in front of the stewardess and went to the end. She opened her carry on purse to check the airline ticket inside. It was leaned against her wallet and compact mirror. The Flight from Boise Idaho to Dickenson North Dakota was a nine hour trip. Nine hours of freedom in Aria's mind. From Dickenson there would be a school chauffer to drive the rest of the way to the school. An expensive chauffer no doubt, another debt Aria had to pay off. The line moved on quicker than Aria had time to notice. The person behind her cleared her thoughts with a shove of his carry on.

"Have a pleasant trip." The stewardess politely said taking Aria's ticket. Aria took her seat next to her sleeping neighbor. She was a woman who looked in her late twenties. Her mouth was open to reveal her perfectly, white, aligned teeth; dentist? She wasn't snoring but was breathing in a labored sort of way. Aria was content that she was asleep and hoped she would stay that way. She looked out the window to look at Boise Idaho one last time. This wasn't a city was very found of but one she did get used to staying with her Aunt, she had a connection to it and didn't value it until now.

The captain came over the microphone announcing their take off and let the stewardesses do the rest explaining the emergence situations and seatbelt and seat regulations. Aria's mind drifted to her parents and what she would be doing now if they had been alive. Millicent Academy was a school that Aria had never heard of or knew scarcely about. It was nothing to her and surly she was nothing to it. Aria put her head phones on tuning out the planes monstrous sounds with soothing fearful flyers music. She watched the town diminish into specks as their altitude gained and the plane flew toward North Dakota Dickenson.

**Hoped you enjoyed it remember to review!**


	3. Chapter 2

Aria watched as the chauffeur's car drove closer and closer to Millicent Academy. The distance was becoming shorter and Aria would soon be there. The flight arrived an hour later than it was suppose to, making her driver delayed in traffic, and making Aria late for orientation. Aria slept most of the flight refusing the airline food much to the stewardess's sneer. She woke with a crick in her neck and unpleasant mornings breathe. Her hair was all in array from the strange sleeping position she had woken up in. She tried to fix it up in the car because she had no time to spare in the airport bathrooms and gave up after the fourth pothole adventure. She would have to make do with what it looked like now. She opened her purse to take out her compact mirror. Her reflection showed her misarrayed hair. Her face was pale from the cool wind but cheeks peach from blood. The slight dark circles underneath her eyes showed the captains less than smooth trip in the skies. Aria closed the compact and shoved it back into the purse. She tried not to care about what they would think of her looks but couldn't help it. Even if she wasn't as privileged as most of them were she could have at lest been decent looking the first day, if not on time.

The orientation had already started about an hour earlier, Aria was late. The schedules for classes and time agenda's would be given to each student after the orientation, much to Aria's relief. The car came to a halt in front of the manor. The stone wall traveled to the sky and stopped at pointed rooftops aligned with stone eagles and birds of all sorts. The building was soaked in the rain that was predicted to be drizzling. There was bushes surrounding the outside, all trimmed to the perfection of a box. The windows had curtains of the same green as Aria's uniform and were elongated to strange proportions. The windows at the bottom story had the curtains pushed wide open, spilling light in through the rain stained glass. Aria's eyes traveled to the top story and saw that the curtains on those windows were closed off and some were even barred. A slight chill ran through her body when she looked at the bars. Curiosity called to know what they were for and why. She dismissed the chill to turn to the driver.

"Where do I take my luggage?"

"I'll take it in and it'll be delivered to you're room. You got your name on it don't you?" He husked.

"Yes it's on the side. Where do I go now?" Aria said opening the passenger door.

"Go down that hall and make a left to the double doors, you'll see it, give your brochure to one of the teachers inside."

Aria nodded and stepped into the outside rain. The droplets splashed onto her hair and clothing as she ran trying to get in to the cover of the sheltered hallway. The wind blustered rain into her face saddening her pores. The winds played with her hair slapping them into her wet face and neck. Aria reached the hallways protected quarter and slowed to a walk catching her breath as she pushed her hair out of her features. She spit the hair that trickily logged into her mouth and pushed it away behind her shoulder. She stopped against the plant vine covered stone. She was already late, so delaying it even more wouldn't really matter. She roughly combed her hair with her fingers, appreciating the nails she had. The water made her russet hair knot in strands of watery tresses. She took out her mirror seeing her wet reflection inside. Taking her wool coat off her wiped her face with it, drying her bangs in the process and pushing them down with the force of her hand. She patted her hair down again for good measure before walking to the burgundy double doors. Aria's eyes admired the doors before she saw it in a strange new sort of way. She came closer to the doors tracing the thick wooden pattern of it and felt its sturdy lumber underneath the burgundy paint. Aria's face turned questioning when she saw it had no door handle, no knob or any other way of opening it. She looked above to the tips of the door searching for any kind of way of opening it, there was none. She heard the muffled sound of a voice through it as her hands pressed against its skin. She pushed her ear against the door and heard the voice of a man speaking. Mostly likely the orientation announcer. Aria's heart sped up with the thought that she's missing the entire thing. She couldn't miss the entire thing! She had to have some idea what kind of school this was.

She took her hands trying to pry the doors open some how. Pushing them with her palms and fists. She panicked as she heard a slow silence from the announcer. He couldn't be done already, she wanted to know at lest a little about this stupid school, at lest a little of what her parents knew. Aria stepped away from the wooden doors preparing to push her body against the doors. She took a running start holding her jacket under her arm and hearing the clicks of her black loafers. Her shoulder and side hit impact with the door colliding with its massive wood and her skeleton. The impassive groan from the doors was a noise that rang in Aria's ears as her body slouched on the doors. Her shoulder throbbed in pain from the collision and her head now had a new ache.

Reaching for her head the doors instantaneously opened spilling Aria onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. She groaned as her forehead hit the ground first and her body second.

"As I was saying, we are sure you will have as an educational four years with us as we will with you." The announcer's words only slightly shaken from Aria's tumbling entrance.

Aria lifted her head and looked at where the sound of the voice was coming from. The announcer looked at her in as if she was an irritating fly buzzing around his drink, a fly that would not live long. Aria regained her composer, straightening her outfit and picking up her coat and bag. In the midst of picking up her things is when she heard the snickers of the entire student body. Her face looked around as the crowd's intent gaze locked on her and smiled at her discomfort. Her cheeks exploded in color from embarrassment. She could feel her ears heat up as she looked and saw a teacher walking toward her.

"Name?" She whispered. Her soft features and young bob made her less threatening than the man at the podium.

"Aria. Aria Bedfull. I-I my plane was late." Aria nervously replied with a red face.

The announcer's eyes instantly went to her face, scrutinizing her with his eyes like a lizard on a beetle.

"Go to the third row." She smiled at her and encouraged her with a hand to her back.

Aria walked her march of death down the middle of the aisles to row three. She felt the stares of every other aisle on her, piercing her every move. She focused her eyes on the marble and focused on their swirling grey and black patterns. She only momentary lifted her head as she came into the Aisle bench and looked up to see the rest of the studentce already there scooting over to make room for her. The corner of her retina noticed students whispering and speaking in hushed noises. A girl with auburn blond hair looked straight at her and smiled a vicious smile, biting her lips as she struggled not the giggle. Aria looked away form her with burning cheeks, she tried to look anywhere but at people but everywhere she looked there was someone. She ended up closing her eyes and tryed to listen to the speaker talk as he had continued.

"—and for no reason is there to be anyone outside the school after the curfew of 10:00 PM, anyone caught will be automatically expelled. We want to keep everyone in the school safe and prepared for learning each day. There have been cases of students being lost in the surrounding forests because of careless foolhardiness and the lack of sense to know when the time of bed is and when the time to have activity is. I anticipate that each one of you new students knows the difference and will choose the responsible choice."

Aria had seen the surrounding woods on her way to the Academy. Giant oaks that traveled on for miles. It was dark with its lush fall vegetation and trees. They had an eerie atmosphere and she could see herself getting lost in them just trying to find a way inside. They probably looked even more menacing at night when darkness covered them and only the moon to give it an outline of light. Most of the trees looked twenty or more feet taller and with a trunk that was made for playing games around, games that could get you lost. How many student had gotten lost in these forests anyhow, Aria speculated? The speaker seamed determined not to let them out at night. Most school are like this too she supposed, keep the people that pay you safe and inside so your paycheck stays just as big as the forest. It was most likely the wild animals they were worried about. Letting a mountain lion attack a student just isn't good for publicity, Aria smirked.

"—This year we would like to thank Ms. Dennis our biology and science teacher for being the head director for reestablishing our school into a more updated scenery, as you all saw today with the self-opening double door."

The faculty and students laughed at this statement obviously mocking her grand entrance through the double doors. Aria looked up at the speakers smiling face and gave him a look of dislike even through her fiery cheeks. She pushed her hair behind her ears raising her chin a fraction. She may have ruined her entrance but she wouldn't ruin her composer now. She scanned the crowd taking in their laughter and chuckles, willing herself not to cry. In the mist of smiling faces one she noticed against all the others. A boy with copper hair covered his mouth with one hand a leaned into the ear of his friend. He pushed his friends shoulder length blackened hair to whisper in his words, obviously she being the hit of the joke. The black haired boy only smirked at his friend's words, cobalt eyes shining at the gag. His lower lip was plumper then the top as he smiled and whispered back. She could see smooth ivory skin on his face and protruding collar line. His azure eyes locked into hers for a fraction of a second and Aria quickly whipped her head around to stare back at the patterns that slithered through the marble.

"The orientation is almost done now and we will all have you leave the room row by row, after that you'll be lead by Mrs. Platt to the tables in the cafeteria where your schedules are in alphabetical order. Your dorm numbers are on printed on your schedules. After you get your schedules you are free to find your dorm and roommates. You can look to find where your classrooms will be as well, some of the teachers will be in their rooms so feel free to ask them any questions if you have any." The stout man paused his speech taking a moment to breathe.

"However, before we let you leave we must explain one final and very important rule." There was no more laughter through the room, only silence now.

"The upstairs corridors and rooms are absolutely and in every way off limits. There are no classes being administrated there so there should be no reason anyone should be up there. The upstairs is an unstable part of the academy that has not yet been reconstructed due to budget. It is a dangerous and rickety area of the school. Everything you will need is provided here, there is also a school store and catalog for other luxuries you may want. No one is allowed up there. You may hear from time to time people up there but the only individuals up there are the day and night guards." Pointing to a group of ladies in dark robes and crosses around their necks. They were standing immovable and impeccably straight. Faces ashen from age.

"These sisters are volunteers from local churches that have agreed to become part of our staff. They are here to keep watch over the upstairs incase anyone tries to be a little too curious. Any breech of this rule can result from detention to expulsion. I hope you all understand and take great care for the guidelines we have put here for your safety and enjoyment, now slowly exit from the doors in single filed lines. Thank you." The fat man walked off from the platform and exited the stage to walk toward the nuns against the wall. He briefly talked with them before they all walked out the doors before anyone else did.

The room was smothered with talking now as everyone tried to cram out the double doors despite the teachers pleas of a single file line, like that was going to happen. Aria walked into the middle aisle like everyone else, staying behind the mob. She didn't want to seam as eager to get out as she was to get in. She walked slower than normal letting everyone surpass her to the gorging line ahead. She looked around trying to find the short bobbed teacher that assigned her aisle to her hoping to ask more about parts of the orientation that she missed. A voice from behind spoke through her plans.

"Nice entry, very…poised." A voice from behind Aria snickered.

Aria swerved around to see the owner of the impish voice. The copper haired boy stood infornt of her. Hands inside his pockets and a contemptuous smile toward her. He had a boyish face with eyes that held a burnt honey color. She could see a light birthmark beneath his right eye, a small one just barley noticeable in the close distance he was in. He was dressed like any other boy in the school , dark green slacks with the same white shirt and green vest as Aria had on. He was dressed like everyone else but smelled like the men's department in the cologne section at the Idaho mall.

"Thanks for the opinion." Aria stared him dead in the eye.

"I don't think that's _just_ my opinion." He chuckled once again for good measure, discomfiting Aria even more.

The handsome dark haired boy walked toward them scrutinizing the conversation between their faces. Aria was sure hers gave off nothing but the embarrassment in her cheeks.

"Let's go Marrow, we're wasting time." Pulling on the copper hair boys arm toward the exit.

"Alright." Marrow smiled at Aria as he turned with his friend. The dark haired boy didn't look at Aria again he just continued down the hall with the one called Marrow at his tail. Aria felt even more mortified with the confirmation of just what _everyone's_ opinion was. She followed the last of the people out and down the hallway to the cafeteria. She had no say in what her courses were going to be, her aunt had chosen them all for her and then there were the mandatory classes everyone had to take such as gym and mathematics.

The cafeteria was just as crowded as the double door room. There were three large tables with two lines at each of them. Above the tables were signs of the alphabetical letters. Aria went to stand in the line with the sign of A-D. The line moved at a slow pace and kept growing behind Aria. She just wanted to get her schedule and find her room to sleep; finding classes could wait till tomorrow. Aria was still weary from the bumpy airplane and the delayed car ride; jetlag was catching up to her because of her western time clock. Her coat prickled her arm underneath and weighed her down with her purse that held her things. Her Hair was now dry but tousled and wiry; it laid flat on her head. She had stopped fusing over it after her mortifying opening to the school. As time passed by and the line moved at a saps pace Aria looked around the cafeteria trying to decipher all her classmates faces and see if they were as miserable to be here as her. Only smiles and laughter trained their feathers. Most huddled in groups talking with friends or walking around meeting new ones. Happily speaking or rather gossiping about today.

Aria finally reached the schedule table.

"Name?" A plump woman with raspberry rectangle glasses looked at her. Her cream blouse had a name tag on it labeled Ms. Mary.

"Aria Bedfull."

Ms. Mary shuffled through her rows of bended papers finding Aria's last initial. Pulling out the schedule she handed it to Aria.

"Thanks." Aria tried to be courteous.

"Mmhmm." Ms. Mary vacantly answered.

Aria opened the paper while walking away from the line and its table. Spotting empty chairs against the stone wall she walked to sit on one. Depositing her coat and bag on the chair next to her she finally looked over her schedule.

1st Hr…..Math

2ndHr…...Biology/ Anatomy

3rdHr…...Gym

4th Hr……Culinary Skills

5th Hr……European History

6th Hr……Literary Analysis

Culinary skills? She knew her aunt would choose her classes she just didn't know she would choose a class that Aria hardly knew anything about. She could barely fry eggs right in the morning, learning how to cook complicated meals seamed an even more impossible task. This was one class that Aria was not going to be able to breeze through. Her lunch was listed at the bottom of the piece. It was right after European History class. Her lunch was a thirty minute period. The classes finished at 2:15 PM and started at 7:00 AM. Aria picked up her coat and swung her purse to the front of her body. Her shoulder was still a little sore from the intimate meeting with the double doors. Her dorm number was in the east wing of the school in the room labeled A268, east wing or west wing Aria still had no idea where to go. Walking out of the cafeteria Aria hoped to find a teacher to help her find her room. She went down the same sheltered hallway still crowded with students. She spotted the amicable short bobbed teacher talking with other faculty members, smiling the same way she had at her. Aria slowly approached her and waited for her conversation to end with the other adults.

"Yes I have reviewed it, it will be an interesting year." Her dark lips spread as she spoke. Her deep brown eyes saw Aria standing at the outer edge of their group and turned her beaming face to her.

"Well hello again! Aria was it?" Her lips spread to show her white teeth in comparison to her dark hair and skin.

"Yes, I kind of need some help." Aria fidgeted with her schedule.

"Alright, just a moment." She told Aria and then turned to excuse herself from her group.

"Show me your agenda." Aria released her hold on her paper and handed it to the woman's black hand. She looked at it with interest and turned her attention back to Aria.

"Your dorm is in the far east wing, a bit of a walk." Pointing a finger how the left corridor.

"Can you show me?" There was no way Aria would able to find it, not with a map and two travel guilds.

"Since it's the first day of course, I'm Ms. Jorgensen. Looks like I'm your math teacher see." Showing Aria where her math class leads to her name.

Aria was relieved that she didn't bring up the door issue. She liked this teacher, she had a soft face that was made for smiling. She followed Ms. Jorgensen through the crowds of people still trying to get their own schedules, pushing on down the narrow hallway. They passed benches full of giggling girls, some who recognized her and giggled harder. Aria sped up her pace with her teacher and came to a fork down the hallway, she tried to remember how they got there through the intricate corners they'd gone down, remembering the benches. They finally reached a wide corridor after passing the girls bathroom. The outside bathroom looked large from the outside, and the two doors with blue triangle woman seemed to emphasize the abnormality for size. It was probably meant for all the girls to share. Aria didn't mind, she thought modesty was something pointless if everyone in the room had the same things you do, despite size. There would always be things to envy though. Aria was slim, not thin or gaunt, but slim and average for her age. She didn't have the full bust some girls had, her body was fine to her for now.

The doors where painted white with golden letters and numbers nailed to the top. Some of the doors closed but most open with girls chatting with each other across the hall and next door.

"Hello ladies." Ms. Jorgensen smiled at the carefree girls as they replied with a hello of their own in discord.

"Here we are." Reaching room A268 two rooms away from the window at the end of the hallway.

"Remember your curfew and that no girl is allowed in the boy's dormitory and vise versa." Instructing Aria with a playful voice.

"Thank you."

"And I'll see you tomorrow!" Her lily white smile showed again as her hands played in the air with her words. She turned down the way she came, greeting and talking with girls along the way before her coal hair disappeared around the corner.

Aria stared back at the pallor of the door. She knocked twice and waited seeing if anyone was there. There was no answer. She knocked again for good measure before entering the dorm. The dorm was only somewhat the exaggerated brochure showed. The windows had the same dark green curtains as all the other rooms in the school. They looked clean but wrinkled and old with a burnt look to the bottom of the hedges. There was only one window, one dirty window. There were two small stationary desks with diminutive lamps on each surface. The beds had the same white comforters as the leaflets but the white had a more cream to it, probably from age. One of the beds was still untouched but the farthest away from the window already had someone in it. Her roommate was laying in it already dead to the world. She had earphones on her head connected to an mp3. She had one black nailed hand across her side and the other clutching the mp3. The hand with the mp3 also had a bracelet on it, it looked to be made of plastic and metallic wiring, and Aria stepped closer for a look. It held a little dot that twinkled a neon green color. The bracelet did not look like something store bought. The girl had very famine features, a perfect face in today's society. From her long dark lashes to her lush plump lips. Her hair was short, framed with its soft, dark layers around her delicate face. She was only dressed in half of the mandatory outfit, with the vest completely open and the white top unbuttoned at the first four fastens. Instead of the gaudy green skirt she wore dark black jeans that framed her long legs. They looked like something out of Wasted Youth magazine, complete with a bright red studded belt.

Aria left her slumbering neighbor to put her purse and jacket on her bed. Laying on top of the cream bed for a couple of minutes. Sighing in exhaustion from the days events. She stood again to walk to the double door closet. One half of it was filled with clothing from the sleeping girl and the other half empty. Aria opened her suitcase taking out the stacks of clothing and aligning them on her side of the closet. So far the day was 90 humiliation and 10 change to equal 100 of a crappy day. She shuddered the day she would have tomorrow, hopefully she would get to know her roommate a little better and go to class with her. After putting in most of her clothes in the closet, Aria took out her pajamas and toiletries to go wash off the rain and grim from her skin and hair. She walked out the room closing the door gently, not to wake the sleeping beauty, and down the now deserted hallway toward the bathroom. She heard shrills of the girls before she was even three feet to the bathroom. She stood against the blue tiles of the outside of the bathroom with her towel and things debating on weather a shower were worth a war with private school girls. She chose battle over grim and entered, pushed the triangle girl door open.


	4. Chapter 3

**OK so this is chapter 3. Sorry for the long wait but school was getting nasty for me and yeah.. So please review after it really helps me get motivated!**

Aria awoke to the pulsing sun pushing into her eyelids. Scrubbing the sleep from her eyes and opening her them to meet the sun infested room. Her alarm clock came on just seconds after, making Aria slightly jump in her bed at the sound of its serial buzzing.

"What time is it?" Mumbling to mostly to herself.

"It's 6:15 AM, you should get up now, they stop serving breakfast at 6:45." A voice from within the closet spoke. Her roommate walking out of the cover of the closet doors. The feminine girl walking toward the edge of Aria's bed while putting on her moss vest at the same time.

"You're my roommate." Aria said only to curse herself for stating the obvious.

"Yeah, is that a problem with you?" The girl answered is a guarded manner while fastening the last of her golden vest buttons.

"No." Aria solemnly said. Making an enemy of the person she was going to be living with was not something she wanted to do.

"Good." She turned to the door while stopping to picking up her bag from her bed. She was dressed in the full uniform today, but the metallic bracelet on her wrist was still there along with an array of darkly plastic bands. She quickly turned the knob to go out.

"Wait!" Aria fumbled out of the bed comforter.

"What's your name?" She asked while fighting the bed over off her legs.

The girl briefly looked at her with clear before answering. "It's Kira."

The door clicked closed and Aria was left in the room alone. She swiftly dumped the covers on her bed not bothering to make it. Rushing to the closet to hastily put her uniform on. She struggled with the white blouse pulling her hands though the holes before noticing that the blouse was inside out.

"Oh for the love of-" Letting her words fall as she fixed the blouse. Ramming her legs through the skirt and vest before lastly pulling her hair out of her clothing. She pushed her feet into the dark shoes before going on her knees to retrieve her bag under the bed. Her bag already from the night before.

Closing the white door behind her she ran to the bathroom. Speedily washing her face and teeth. There were still some girls in the bathroom, primping themselves and fixing their flaws. Aria tried not to look at them as they chatted. She rinsed her mouth out with water before whipping her face and mouth with paper towels. She put back her toothbrush back into her bag and was forced to looking the mirror as she brushed her hair. She saw the reflections of the other girls in the mirror sneaking peaks at her from their circle.

"We're probably not going to do anything today." One of the girls with a drawled out voice said.

A girl with blonde auburn hair said. "Probably?"

Aria recognized this girl; it was the one fighting not to laugh straight out into her face at orientation. Aria suddenly wanted to leave a little faster.

"That's why I like the first day, _because_ we don't do anything." Another girl laughed while she pulled her hair in a brown ponytail.

The auburn blond sneered at the brown haired one as she watched her hike her hair up.

"Don't pull your hair up." She ordered.

"Why?" The brunette pouted.

"Because you look like a freaking horse that way."

Aria keeps her eyes down now but continued brushing her own hair as she listened in on the conversation.

"No, I think I look good this way."

"You have no idea what you look like." The other implied while another laughed.

"Do I look that bad?" The brunette asked turning to the one with the drawled out voice for support.

She shrugged. "I guess, I mean it is a _ponytail. _"

Aria zipped her bag with her brush in it walking to the doors. The conversation was getting petty, not interesting to her.

"There better?" Aria assumed that the brunette put her hair down.

"Sure now you just look like that girl." Laughter echoed off the tile walls.

Aria scowled as she was rudely compared to the other girl. Girls like that were all the same, all remark and no respect. Walking with a fast pace down the halls Aria saw there where students everywhere again looking for their classes like her again. She pulled her schedule out of her bag too find out what room number was her first class.

Opening the bended paper she saw Math at the top of the list. Remembering that the kind woman called Ms. Jorgenson was her teacher. This eased her nerves knowing that she had at lest one good teacher she slightly knew. The Math room was listed as room 104. Aria looked around at the neighboring rooms searching for their room number so she could trace down hers. She passed 121 and then 122 watching the numbers escalate and watching students go in and out of rooms brushing passed her.

"They're getting bigger, great" Motioning to the numbers.

She turned her heals and went back down the opposite end of the hallway. The numbers where getting smaller now much to Aria's joy. Her stomach spoke with hunger as she walked. She was starving and they had already stopped serving food. Classes were going to start soon and lunch was not going to be for another four or so hours. She frowned and rubbed her stomach at the though of waiting so long. She refused the airline food and the last thing she ate was a bag of chips and juice from the airport terminal. Her stomach felt like it was sticking to the skin on her back. She turned her attention back at the room numbers and saw she reached 112. She tried to momentarily look inside was the classroom. Her eyes betrayed her as she saw the striking black haired boy again. Leading against a desk. The boy called Marrow stood in front of him with speaking a grin. Aria couldn't hear what they where talking about as their voices got lost in the sea of sound of the classroom.

Aria was knocked aside as more students filled the room. She stayed at the side of the entrance observing the boys. Marrow was shorter than his raven hair friend but only slightly. The dark haired boy's eyes held two light blue orbs under his hard eyes brows. He was lean with a complexion of a creamed white. Aria felt her ears go hot as she watched him smile at his copper haired friend. She's forgotten all her hunger in the midst of her ogling. Marrow found her eyes as she kept her intent stare on his friend.

"Oh look, its maladroit from yesterday." Marrow indicated his head toward Aria as his friend turned to look.

Aria blushed as she was caught in her act of staring. She saw as Marrow zigzagged through the desks toward her. Aria quickly turned and walked down the way to her classroom. She looked back to see Marrow following her in a slow walk. Aria quickly speed her pace watching as she reached 106 and ran past the last to rooms to reach her own. She ducked inside hoping he wasn't still following her. The classroom was almost completely filled up. She sat behind group of girls who were leaning against and sitting on the desk in front of her. Hoping she would be hidden from view by them.

Marrow stopped walking after Aria after he saw her go into room 104. He went back to his original room to meet back with his friend. He was probably angry with him for leaving. He saw his dark hair come out of the room and turn the opposite direction.

"Luka!" Marrow called out to him.

Luka turned around with a grimace on his face that Marrow knew would be there, as he walked toward his way.

"Where the hell did you go?" Luka glared.

Marrow laughed. "I wanted to have some fun; it was the girl from yesterday, the one that tackled the doors."

"What's so fun about her?" Luka gave an aggravated expression to Marrow still angry for his departure.

"Haha nothing yet, nothing until I get to her, come on." Marrow nudged Luka's shoulder as he picked up his pace down the hall.

"It's sound like something pointless and degrading."

Marrow turned his head but continued his sprint.

"Well, of course it is, what else would it be?"

"Right."

Luka hesitantly followed as they went in the direction of 104. They came inside as some students noticed their entrance.

"Marrow!" A boy called out.

Marrow smiled as he waved. "Hey Terry."

Marrow scanned the room for Aria while Luka sat down next to Terry. He spotted her dark brown hair through the elbow of a girl.

"Found her."

"Found who?" Terry inquired.

"The fun."

"This should be good." Luka smiled as Marrow made his way to the group of girls. They smiled at his approach.

"Ladies." Marrow grinned his slitting smile.

"Well, Marrow haven't seen you in a while." A girl with a tight bun said narrowing her eyes.

"It's been a busy summer, Lucy."

"Oh I just bet it was."

Marrow spread his smile bigger. "Now, now where're all friends here. Can you help me find someone; she's got brown hair and—Oh! There you are"

Marrow squeezed through the girls as he made his way to Aria's desk.

"I though I lost you." He said with feigning worry.

"Who's she?" A girl from behind spoke up.

"That's what I want to know, what's your name?" Marrow looked at Aria.

Aria's cheeks spilled pink as she spoke softly. "It's Aria."

Luka came closer pushing girls out of the way to be by Marrow.

"Wow that's a pretty name, isn't it a pretty name?" Marrow turned back to the gathering crowd to ask.

"Oh God Marrow." Lucy shook her head.

"Aren't you the girl who fell out of the doors at orientation?" A dark haired girl beside Lucy asked.

Aria kept quite and people laughed because at her unspoken reply of confirmation. She alerted her eyes to the left wall. Seeing the lines go through the white brick like snakes. She didn't want to look at them anymore, her cheeks where already turning scarlet and her ears felt like they might set off the fire alarm soon.

"Now, that's not fair. Aria is my new friend. Orientation was just a little mess up." Placing an arm around Aria's shoulders.

"Aria I'm Marrow Saken." Marrow leaned into Aria's face as she leaned back in response. Aria squirmed under his arm trying to wiggle out of his grasp. The arm moved up and a hand rested in the middle of her neck and shoulder.

"This is Luka." He said pointing to the raven haired boy. He stared back at her with an empty expression that looked as if he was bored of her already.

"And that's the beautiful Lucy." He raised a finger to the bun haired girl with freckles on her cheeks. She had a narrow chin and an upturned nose, the kind that makes magazines sell. She had delicate eyebrows and thin lips that looked as if they were scowling at her in their natural form.

"Can't we be friends Aria?" Marrow lightly said as he leaned into Aria again. She was embarrassed beyond belief now. She knew he was toying with her and that this was a double edged sword pointed at her either way. If she said no then they would think of her as a snob and unfriendly and most likely be on bad terms. If she said yes then they would think she was eager to have friends, the kind that could do anything to her. Either way she was not going to be in a good position. Marrow's hand was warm at her neck. She hated his arrogance, thinking that she that stupid of a girl. He was handsome, she couldn't deny it but she wasn't a dense girl. She knew that there are plenty of pretty boys and that their intentions aren't always as pretty. Aria took Marrow's hand and swung it off her shoulders staring up at his face so close to her. She kept her eyes steady.

"Yeah, we can be friends."

Marrow's smile went up slightly as his face backed up a bit and his honey eyes darkened. He smiled back at Luka.

"You hear that Luka, me and Aria are going to be good friends, so don't be jealous. "

His slightly deep voice finally scoffed. "Wouldn't dream of it."

"Are you all here for Math?" Ms. Jorgensen stood at the front of the classroom with her hands resting on the hips of her cream suit.

"Because if you're not then I suggest you leave for your own before you're marked absent the first day."

Luka looked back at Aria one last time with empty eyes before walking to the door.

"Marrow." He stopped to look back flashing a quick glance again to Aria that made her heart skip a beat.

"Yeah, I'm coming. See you later then friend." He said to Aria as he waved and others snickered at the act.

The boys shuffled out of the room with Ms. Jorgenson's dark eyes following their moves.

"Another year Mr. Saken?" Her head turning to Marrow.

Marrow placed a hand to his breast. "Ah seams Mr. Kerry has already been assigned to me, you must be crushed, I loved your Math class."

"Just devastated, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Her sarcasm lightened the mood.

"Well, maybe next year, you know you're my favorite." He said spreading his smile thin.

Ms. Jorgenson sighed " Luka, please take him away already."

Luka lead to the door with one hand on Marrows sleeve.

"Oh you wound me Cynthia."

"That's Ms. Jorgenson to you, and get out already I have a class to teach."

She then went and closed the door after their exit and turned to the class to continue.

"I swear the boy grows a bigger ego and attitude every year. Well, if you already haven't read your schedules then you'll be pleased to know that I'm your math teacher Ms. Jorgenson." Writing her name in blue marker on the board.

"I see some fresh new faces this year and of course some old ones. This is my fifth year teaching here at Millicent Academy. I am a 29 year old nerd who loves teaching math and am currently in the process of planning my wedding."

The class was abrupt with awes and congratulations from students that were already more familiar with her then Aria was. She beamed a wide smile at their praises and questions of when is it and could they come.

"The date's not set in stone yet but we're thinking somewhere in June so maybe some of you could come but that's enough of that I want to know more about you and any questions you have for the year."

She reached into a manila folder to retrieve a stake of papers and wandered down the rows passing them out.

"This is just an introductory worksheet on what you might be expecting or what you want to know, so we can make this year fun and interesting."

As she came down to Aria's row she smiled at her a knowing smile of their greetings the other day, a smile Aria was glade to return. The paper was just as Ms. Jorgenson said, questions full of opinion and questioning about the math then were learning and a couple on the math from previous years. Aria wasn't worried about this class, she passed most with at lest a B and was satisfied with the grade, she would be satisfied with a D in this school because was not the one that chose to be here. Nonetheless she took out a pencil from the side of her bag and filled out the worksheet, watching the class move on with the enthusiasm of the teacher and students as she clutched the sunny coat of the pencil in thought that she really did not want to be here.

The class let out with uproar of students rushing to their next class. It was third hour already, Math had dipped along from minute to minute and made Aria halfway fall asleep on the desk. After that biology and Anatomy was faster and the rays of the sun kept Aria awake as they warmed her back. She was assigned a seat in the back next to a boy who was thin and tan. There were three windows and none had anything covering them so the sun enlightened the entire room to extreme and piercing its warmth along her vertebra. She war dreading the next hour; Gym. Aria felt she had no sense of balance whatsoever. She knew they wouldn't be doing anything today but there was always tomorrow and the next day and the next three years. She dragged through the hallways hoping to delay her next hour as much as possible. She was tired and most of all hungry, it made her weak and even more unwilling.

There was no real gym, it was outdoor courtyard of grass and one track that the school kept insisting was a gym facility. She stepped onto the lush grass walking toward the group of white and green students chatting and waiting for the instructor to come. Aria looked ahead of the crowd observing the ominous growth of the forest. With trunks and plant life as the wind blew its leaves into the rubbery surface of the track. Her trace of the woods was interrupted.

"Hi."

She stopped just short of Aria's feet. Her tight blond curls caught in an elastic band at the point of her neck. She was shorter than average and thin in every proportion of her small body. She spread a smile in greeting as her upper lip disappeared with her friendliness.

"Oh, hi."

"I'm Leanne; you want to come sit next to me? You look a bit lonely."

Her grey eyes sparkled with the sunlight as her light skin looked as if it would burn any minute. She was kind, and that was enough for Aria, even if she didn't want to be noticed she need some kind of friend to help her get through the snakes.

"Can I?" She asked just to confirm.

"Of course!" Taking her by the hand and leading her around the mob.

Her hand was an enclosed sauna of heat. They came to a group of girls already stretched out and assembled on the pasture. There were two other girls, one of an olive complexion and thick dark hair. She had a pleasantly round face in which two dark eyes peered out of. The other was pale like Leanne but had much pinker cheeks. They looked like someone had pinched them too many times. Her long legs told her was taller then the other too. Her thin hair just barely brushed the shoulders of her uniform; it was perfectly straight and looked as smooth and soft as a new paintbrush. Aria's hair was unruly and probably a mess by now the late summer breeze was playing with it again.

"This is Clair and Maria." Indicating to the rosy cheeks of the pale one and then to the other.

"Oh—I'm sorry! What's your name?" Her face sorry with the bad manners that Aria didn't even mind she express, she would have been sweet even if she forgot her name and never even asked it.

"It's Aria."

"Where you here last year?" Maria's voice holding a slight accent at the end of her _S_ and _Rs_ that rolled off her tongue.

"Yeah, you don't look real familiar." Clair mentioned while moving to make room for Leanne to sit.

Aria took her nestled her place next to Leanne and looked up to meet their expecting gazes.

"No, I just started this year."

Leanne joined in. "Oh, well then who's your roommate?"

Struggling to remember the girls name from hours ago "Umm…I think it was Kira, that's all she told me."

"Kira…Duprel?" Claire asked I a suspicious manner.

"I really don't know."

"What's she look like?" Clair pushed on.

"Well I didn't really get a good look at her." Ignoring the night she saw her on her bed. "She's pretty tall, with a very short cut."

The girls looked from one another and back to Aria.

"Did she have dark hair?"

"Yeah."

"Then it's probably Duprel."

Leanne looked back at Clair. "You don't know for sure, we don't even know if she's back yet."

"Oh she's back alright I heard she was released two weeks ago for house arrest, and now her parents probably don't want to deal with her so they sent her here."

Leanne shook her head. "Don't say that, you don't know all the fact these might just be rumors."

Aria was confused either which way the conversation turned. Was this girl trouble? Aria would see her again, what kind of person was she?

"It doesn't really matter now anyway, she's most likely here now. Might as well leave it alone."

"Maria, she's not exactly the most _clean_ of a person."

"So what? If she's not selling then let her have her own problems."

Aria unbuttoned her green vest. "What's so bad about her?"

The girls looked back at her again. Leanne parted her lips but before anything but air could even come out Claire was talking.

"She got all weird at the end of last year, skipping class to go God knows where and even going as far as to yell at teachers. They said she was having problems at home, which she probably was but when she started telling stories about the upstairs hallways that's when they got angry. Not to mention they found cigarettes and a couple of joins in her suitcase after spring break. Remember Maria?"

"Yeah, she looked all tired and…scared, probably form the drugs."

Clair moved to sit cross legged across Aria. "If she is your roommate it wouldn't be the best thing to let her get to you and have her sell stuff to you."

"And was she selling the drugs?" Aria prompted.

"Well, not that I know of, but you never know."

So now she had a smoking, drug dealing roommate? Is that what she is? Aria hoped Kira's reputation didn't precede her. Why anyone would do drugs is beyond Aria but she's seen what people become after the addiction sinks in and it wears away on their eyes and skin. Her years in public school had many cases just the same and some even worse. They were everywhere, she could tell from one of her old biology classes that a boy had been taking ecstasy, the rumors confirmed it but the dark gashes on his arms she saw when he pushed his sleeves up to wash them in class proved it. Even if people have a poison doesn't mean they have to take it. This news made Aria cautious to go back to her room now.

"Let's just talk—"Before Leanne finished, a whistling sound pierced though the air. It was blown three more times till a small figure approached the front of the class and looked over the students.

"I want everyone standing, breaks over."

He was a bulky man who lacked in height and hair for the matter. His dark green sports jacked matched his shorts that revealed his muscled little legs. He had a broad face with a five-o-clock shadow that looked more like seven-day-o-clock shadow. His dark facial hair matched his eye brows and arm hair that was showed from the elbow down. He looked out of a Saturday comic strip. Everyone was now on their feet, staring awkwardly at the little man with his clipboard tightly tucked in his hand.

"I'm Mr. Kooleage, I'll be teaching you your physically education this year. We'll have nine different sections to go through this year doing a section a month. There will be a test at the end of each month for each section; if you don't pass then you don't pass. I don't give out extra credit, I don't give out breaks, but I do give out the pleasure of sending you to our superintendent Mr. Kergon and he just isn't as nice as I am."

The man sounded like he'd done this speech so many times already that it was like he was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

"The sections are as follows, Track and field, soccer, Basketball, Archery, Tennis, volleyball, swimming which will be done inside, football, and Golf. Each of you must bring an extra pair of clothing suitable for all activities, including shoes. Failure to do so will result in a zero for each day you don't have the things you need. Once we reach swimming you are all required to buy a swimsuit from the school, no other kind of swimsuit will be allowed because of regulations. Now I want everyone in a straight line so I can take roll count."

Aria followed the others example and left her dark bag on the green and went to stand by the empty space next to Maria. It took some time to get the line in order especially with half the guys in the class fooling around. The line wasn't long as Aria looked down it; it was only a class of twenty-five. The male-female ratio was somewhat the same as she looked from face to face.

"Alright lets begin."

He listed off the names like he would a grocery list, not stopping to correct himself on the names he got wrong. Aria was always one of the first to be call.

"Becker."

"Here."

"Bedfull"

"Here." Aria softly said

"Bedfull?"

She spoke louder. "I said I'm here."

"Benoit."

"Here"

After the Bs ended Aria didn't really feel the need to keep listening. Her thoughts kept drifting back to Kira and if she really was as bad as Clair said she was. She supposed anyone could do drugs here, since most of them probably had the money for it but what was surprising about the story was that she said she was telling stories. Why would anyone tell stories when they were high? Why ruin your cover like that, if she really had been doing drugs why would she freak people out and let them find out. It sounded like self sabotage but Aria didn't really know all the details. Does desperation take such measures?

"Reed."

"Here."

She recognized the voice. It was slightly deep and smooth. It was Luka's, she remembered. His last name was Reed? She peered passed Maria's torso to take a look. His back stood straight but his arms crossed as the teacher finished calling names and instructed that they would start running tomorrow so today was a free day.

"Who are you looking at?"

Aria slowly turned her head back to Maria's round face and shrugged.

She looked down the line as Aria had trying to figure out whom before turning back to her.

"Don't tell me, you already have crush? It's only the first day." She incredulously spoke.

Aria frowned "No I don't, I was just looking."

Clair sighed. "Looking can be just as bad, its kind of hard keeping a steady boyfriend in a private school with at lest three hundred other girls to come between you isn't it?"

She said it like she knew all the problems already, like she kissed too many boys and knew they wouldn't keep kissing her after the second month.

"There are good guys out there Clair." Leanne just couldn't help but try to be positive.

Clair grinned. "You wouldn't know it from our school but at lest we have some good looking ones."

Maria laughed as Leanne blushed. Aria's eyes trailed down the line again and agreed.

"Yeah."

Clair leaned her elbow on Aria's shoulder. "So who's caught your eye Aria?"

"No one I know." Stating the apparent and shaking off Clair's arm.

"You really don't have to say who, Aria." Leanne said coming to her rescue. She hadn't even talked to him, how would she even know what she's supposed to feel for him.

Clair clapped her hands. "Ok ok let me guess!"

This girl was getting to be more irritating by the second.

She looked back down the line evaluating all the guys.

"Is it Nick?" Eyes sparkling at Aria.

Aria sat back down on the lush grass and looked away. "I don't know their names, so isn't this kind of pointless?"

Clair was frowning now as Leanne and Maria went to sit by Aria.

"Just tell me who it is. It's not like I'm going to try and steal him away or anything." She could hear the frustration in her voice.

"You don't have anyone to steal form me because I don't know anybody here."

"Well, who do you _want_ to get to know?" Clair was relentless.

Maria crouched forward to put her hand on her knees and looked up to the sky.

Rolling her letters again. " Just say who it is. Clair's getting annoying. Who is it? Terry? Ren?... Luka?"

The last of the names made Aria hesitate. "I—L—N-no none."

Clair dropped down to Aria's face. "Wait who was that? L? Luka?"

Aria was cursing the blush on her cheeks. "I said I don't know their names."

Clair was laughing now and Aria felt like she wanted to smack the dark leather of her bag against her face. Just because the boy was attractive to her doesn't mean she wanted to stake a claim for him, no matter how nice his eyes looked.

"Well, you certainly know how to pick them that's sure." Clair's eyes roamed to find Luka lounging on the grass next to others. Aria was glad him arm was laid across his face so he couldn't catch the imminent stares that were coming his way.

Leanne's voice brought Clair's face back to her. "That's enough Clair, it doesn't matter anymore."

Clair pushed her hair back against her skull. "Yeah ok, well he is pretty nice looking but a bit anti-social just so you know."

Leanne beamed her teeth at Aria. "Don't worry about it, Clair's just a little uppity but she wouldn't say any thing."

Aria smiled back at Leanne

"Alright time to get to your next class! Everybody goes back in!"

Everyone went back into through the doors they came out of dragging bits of grass with their shoes onto the schools floor tiles. Aria saw Luka was one of the first to go back in and didn't bother to look anymore. The sleeve of her shirt was pulled back in surprise before she could move farther then three feet from the doors. Leanne's pale arm held her back.

"We'll meet you here to go to lunch later if you want."

"After fourth hour?

"Yeah." She smiled

This girl was kind, so kind she looked breakable. Aria had to wonder how she managed to be friends with the ever inquisitive Clair.

"Alright."

**Sorry if things seam slow right now in the story, but remember that we need the boring parts to make the juicy parts D and...REMEMBER TO REVIEW!!**


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